


Terrors of the Night

by orphan_account



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, i mean i tried, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 11:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3325925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wanted Jason and Damian bonding so I wrote a thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terrors of the Night

To say Jason was exhausted would be putting it lightly. He felt like he’d aged twenty years in the past week. Pulling extra hours on patrol and time out of his personal life to bring down one of the bigger gangs in Gotham was not exactly his idea of a grand ole time.

But it was necessary, and he knew he was the one who had to do it. (And yeah, maybe he could have asked for help. Since things were kind of getting better. But it wasn’t exactly his style.)

So now that all the loose ends from his latest case were taken care of, Jason just wanted to sleep. 

Opening the door to his tiny apartment, he paused in the doorway as he flicked the light on. His hand was only half way to the gun tucked under his shirt before he realized it was just Damian sitting on the edge of his bed.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked Damian, resisting the urge to tack demon onto the end of his question.

“...Nothing.” Damian said quietly. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie and his shoulders were slumped, and Jason never thought he could actually look so small.

It wasn’t the response Jason was expecting. 

Stepping into the room, he locked the door behind him. He could feel Damian watching him as he moved around the small space, slowly putting things away from his patrol. When he finally changed into sweats and a t-shirt, he joined Damian in sitting on the end of his bed.

“You wanna tell me why you’re really here?” Jason asked tiredly. This had not been on his to do list. He was pretty sure it fell somewhere on his list of things he never wanted to do. But it also did seem like the right kind of first step in the direction of being less of an asshole. 

“-Tt-.” It was the only response he got from Damian, the younger boy turning his head away from him. It was obvious something was bothering him, but Jason wasn’t in the mood to beat around the bush.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, you can either tell me what’s got you showing up in my apartment at the crack of dawn, or you can sit there or do whatever you want while I go to sleep.”

Damian stayed quiet for so long Jason thought he was never going to answer. “I can’t sleep.”

Jason wanted to tell him this was someone else’s wheelhouse. He didn’t know how to handle it when a ten year old couldn’t sleep. That’s what Alfred was for, or even Dick.

Except Jason knew he was the only one who understood.

“Nightmares?” Jason asked, already knowing the answer. Damian nodded in the affirmative. 

Jason knew that there wasn’t anything he could say to make it better, even though he wanted to. That was what Damian was hoping for. He knew because it was what he wanted when he had been in Damian’s position all those years ago.

So instead he did what Damian needed. Hesitantly, Jason reached out and pulled Damian against his side, his hand squeezing the kid’s shoulder.

It was weird. Providing comfort to people was not in his immediate skillset. Especially when one of those people was someone who was supposed to hate him. 

But Damian was family. Jason did risk his neck to help save him from Apokolips. And on top of that Jason was sleep deprived, so confrontation wasn’t ideal right now.

“Do they ever go away?” Damian asked, his body stiff against Jason’s side.

“I wish they did.” For both our sakes.

Damian’s body sagged as if in defeat. The current Robin was already looking tired beyond his years, despite the superpowers. It was almost like looking in a mirror for Jason.

He was marking tonight as one of the nights he was never going to mention to anybody, and if Damian or anybody ever asked him about he would deny everything. 

Jason scooped Damian out of his seat without any warning. It earned him a hand in his face and a nearly unbearable screeching in his ear. “What are you doing?!”

Jason held on as Damian tried to crawl his way out of his arms. “Release me this instant, Todd!”

“Just shut up,” Jason retorted, manhandling Damian into his bed.

Jason yanked the blankets into place over them and flipped the lights off. He could feel Damian seething next to him.

“Was that necessary?” Damian tried to snap, but there wasn’t much bite behind his words.

“Were you really going to listen to me if I had told you to get into my bed?” Jason said, throwing his arm over Damian’s chest.

He wasn’t going to force Damian to stay. It wasn’t like he asked to kid to show up in the first place. But he couldn’t in good conscience push him away. 

Jason had never wished his fate on another person. Now that it had happened to someone he knew, and dare he admit, someone he cared about? There was a feeling of responsibility starting to weigh on Jason’s shoulders. Just because his resurrection and the years after had been rough didn’t mean he couldn’t try and make it easier for Damian. 

Damian didn’t say anything, but he also didn’t leave. The only response Jason got was Damian adjusting the pillow under his head.

Despite being dead tired, Jason stayed awake until he was sure Damian fell asleep.

And if he woke up from a night free from nightmares himself and with Damian curled up against his side, no one would ever be the wiser.


End file.
